London - The Moroccan Association for Human Rights submitted a file to the United Nations representation in Rabat demanding the decolonization of the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the islands, including the Canary Islands. This is a decision that raises Madrid's concerns and Rabat's anticipation of a civil society initiative of this kind.
The president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, one of the largest human rights associations in the Arab world and Africa, Aziz Ghali, stated last March the association’s intention to raise the issue of decolonization in Ceuta, Melilla and the islands. He revealed that the association will present this initiative with the Democratic Approach Party, which is a Marxist-Leninist party that emerged from the “Forward” organization.
Indeed, last Thursday, the Moroccan Assembly submitted a file to the United Nations representative in Rabat that included a request that the file be referred to the Decolonization Committee. The short statement issued on this occasion says: “The central office of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights informs that a delegation from it, on Thursday, February 29, 2024, submitted a letter to the United Nations representation in Rabat, addressed to the Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), affiliated with the United Nations. The United Nations, in which the association demands that the issue of Moroccan lands that are still occupied by the Spanish state be included on the committee’s agenda, in order to end the Spanish colonization of the Moroccan ports represented by the cities of Ceuta and Melilla overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and the Jafaria Islands, Islay Island (Leila), Al-Nakor and Bades adjacent to the shores of the region. The countryside in Al Hoceima Province, and the Canary Islands located in the Atlantic Ocean; This is within the framework of the role of the Fourth Committee in establishing the rights of peoples to self-determination and sovereignty over their lands.”
The application was submitted one week after the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Rabat, and his reception by King Mohammed VI. The Spanish press dealt with the news with some surprise, as it was waiting for Morocco’s approval to officially open the Ceuta and Melilla crossings to trade, but it was surprised by this new development.
Spanish newspapers cannot accuse the Moroccan Association for Human Rights of being a tool in the hands of the Moroccan state, given that this association adopts a relatively different position on the Sahara issue by emphasizing the international democratic solution. At the same time, its reports on human rights in Morocco greatly worry Rabat, especially in international forums.
Returning to the literature of the Human Rights Association, it has referred on previous occasions in its conferences to the file of Ceuta, Melilla and the occupied islands, and this does not mean that the topic is new. The Moroccan state did not abandon its demand for the recovery of the two cities and the islands, but the association added the recovery of the Canary Islands.
These islands contained a political movement demanding Spain’s exit, and the African Union at the time supported this demand. Rabat will not view this initiative with satisfaction because it comes at a time when it wants to establish strong relations with Madrid, including freezing the file of claims to Ceuta, Melilla and the islands.
Sources from the Moroccan Society for Human Rights confirm that decolonization is not linked to the quality of existing relations between the two countries, as it is a permanently present demand and not a seasonal one. The association has extensive relations with human rights organizations and leftist movements in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, and may receive support for this initiative.